The life and times of an Asian American activist who tells all the truth (and dishes news and analysis) but with a leftwards slant.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

APAs on TV; Philly results

I found this article which does a good job of detailing the increase in Asian American female performers on TV shows. So next season there are scheduled to be 7 (yup, count em) APA women on the lil screen. We've made some progress since the days of Margaret Cho's All American Girl getting canceled.

But a few years ago, something happened — more specifically, Lost and Grey's Anatomy

happened, or maybe common sense just finally kicked in — and we began to get three or four Asian American women in regular roles on network TV shows. Then last season, it was five.

And the networks discovered something odd: people of color tuned in, and the white people didn't stop watching. In fact, ratings even went up on some of the shows. (Gee, maybe this whole diversity thing isn't such a bad idea, after all!)

Now, going into the 2007-08 season, we're looking at a record seven shows with prominent leading or supporting roles on primetime network TV (eight if The CW renews Smallville).

That's almost double the number of even a few years ago. Yes, it's still a pathetically small number, and there's still no Asian American equivalent to shows like Everybody Hates Chris or the upcoming Latino family drama Cane. But at least it's trending in the right direction — and it's six more than the number of lesbians we're going to get next season!

Although the women are hotter than Margaret and about half of the actresses listed are hapa - Lindsay Price (Coupling), Moon Bloodgood (Daybreak), .and michaela Conlin. Interesting, no? Other APAs who will appear on tv in major or minor roles include Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Yunjin Kim, and Elizabeth Ho, who I'm unfamiliar with.

--------------Andy Toy came really close to capturing enough votes for an at-Large seat in Philly's city council election. What's funny is if you notice how the Repubs were disciplined enough to only nominate 5 people, and the Dems have nearly 20. Hopefully next time is the charm!